MID CITY STUDIO

I thought the community engagement event was a great, informative, and revealing time for us to absorb the community and the community to learn about our mission.  Before the event, I thought that it would be difficult to get a community to open up the first time, but I realized that we've been in contact with many people and they were more than open to share their stories and voices.  After people voluntarily started to share opinions, it definitely made it easier for me to understand what Mid City is really like.  If we had to do it over, I think it would have been fun to provide more activities for the kids because they seemed to enjoy it and that made the families stay longer at the event.  I also think that having something interactive like the building blocks would have been an interesting activity for everyone to see how they would design their homes and community.

The neighborhood taught me that they do want to be involved in the design process and that they do want to heard. Although I talked mostly to kids...I think that it's important to also include their voices.  They want to be active and stay busy and the boards are proof of that.  This is a positive about the neighborhood.  It shows that these families are willing to be part of the community.  The lack of awareness of surrounding amenities is a negative about the neighborhood.  I think in the future, an open Q & A session at the end of the event with the residents might be helpful for community feedback.